Assigning an identifying element to a bale

ABSTRACT

A bale identification assembly for use with an agricultural baler ( 18 ) includes a first supply roll mounted on the baler providing a binding material ( 52 ) used by the knotter system to bind the formed bale, the binding material ( 52 ) on the first supply roll comprising identification tags ( 62 ) at spaced intervals along the binding material. The bale identification assembly includes a second supply roll mounted on the baler ( 18 ) providing a binding material without identification tags, wherein the knotter system combines the binding material with identification tags ( 62 ) from the first supply roll with the binding material without identification tags from the second supply roll to bind the formed bale. The bale identification assembly includes a read module with one or more antennas configured to transmit interrogator signals and also receive authentication replies from the identification tags ( 62 ).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/468,817 filed Mar. 8, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by referencein their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention

The present disclosure is generally related to agricultural balers and,more particularly to a method and assembly for supplying baleidentification tags 62 to bales of agricultural crop material.

Description of Related Art

For many years agricultural balers have been used to consolidate andpackage crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling ofthe crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts andconditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cutcrop material is properly dried, a baler travels along the windrow topicks up the crop material and forms it into bales. Pickups of the balergather the cut and windrowed crop material from the ground then conveythe cut crop material into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. Adrive mechanism operates to activate the pickups, augers, and a rotor ofthe feed mechanism.

In conventional square balers include a bale forming chamber and areciprocating plunger that slides into and out of the chamber. As thechamber receives loose hay material, the plunger slides into the chamberduring a compaction stroke to compress the loose hay material into theform of a bale. A conventional round baler includes a bale formingchamber with a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts,chains, and/or rolls that rotate and compress the crop material into acylindrical shaped bale.

When the bale has achieved a desired size and density, a wrapping systemmay wrap the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape anddensity. For example, a twine wrapping apparatus may be provided to wrapthe bale of crop material while still inside the bale forming chamber. Acutting or severing mechanism may be used to cut the twine once the balehas been wrapped. The wrapped bale may be ejected from the baler andonto the ground.

The ability to trace or track parameters of each bale may be useful toan end user. Baled products, such as hay or silage, may be fed tolivestock, and the quality of the feed may be important to the diet ofthe livestock. For example, a higher quality feed may be fed to certainlivestock, whereas feed with lesser quality may go to a different typeof livestock. It may be desirable to trace where food products comefrom, what the livestock ate while it was being raised, etc. It is alsodesirable to be able to label each bale with other important properties,such as moisture content and nutritional value. Other potentialparameters of interest include but are not limited to GPS Location whenbale is tied, where the bale leaves the baler, farm name, farmer id,field name, preservative type, amount of preservative applied, etc. As aresult, bale identification systems may be employed in the balingprocess for storing or otherwise retaining the parameters or quality ofthe crop so it can be provided to the end user. To identify a bale, itis known to attach a tag containing information such as the size,weight, and date of the bale. To identify a bale, it is known to attacha tag containing the information. However, improvements in the manneridentification tags used to identify are affixed to a bale is desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly stated, one aspect of the invention is directed to a baleidentification assembly for use with an agricultural baler used to takeloose crop material from the ground into bales and compress a formedbale in a baling chamber with a reciprocating plunger. The baler havingat least one crop sensor and/or bale sensor configured to sense aparameter of the crop material or formed bale, and a knotter system thatuses a binding material to bind the formed bale and tie a knot in thebinding material. The bale identification assembly includes a firstsupply roll mounted on the baler providing a binding material used bythe knotter system to bind the formed bale, the binding material on thefirst supply roll comprising identification tags at spaced intervalsalong the binding material. The bale identification assembly includes asecond supply roll mounted on the baler providing a binding materialwithout identification tags, wherein the knotter system combines thebinding material with identification tags from the first supply rollwith the binding material without identification tags from the secondsupply roll to bind the formed bale. The bale identification assemblyincludes a read module with one or more antennas configured to transmitinterrogator signals and also receive authentication replies from theidentification tags.

This summary is provided to introduce concepts in simplified form thatare further described below in the Description of Preferred Embodiments.This summary is not intended to identify key features or essentialfeatures of the disclosed or claimed subject matter and is not intendedto describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of thedisclosed or claimed subject matter. Specifically, features disclosedherein with respect to one embodiment may be equally applicable toanother. Further, this summary is not intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Many other noveladvantages, features, and relationships will become apparent as thisdescription proceeds. The figures and the description that follow moreparticularly exemplify illustrative embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above mentioned and other features of this invention will becomemore apparent and the invention itself will be better understood byreference to the following description of embodiments of the inventiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic diagram of an baler;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a first bale being bound with a bindingmaterial having a bale identification tag and a second bale bound withthe binding material;

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a bale identification assembly usedwith the baler of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of a binding material containing a baleidentification tag.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the views of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way ofexample and not by way of limitation. This description will clearlyenable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, anddescribes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives anduses of the invention, including what we presently believe is the bestmode of carrying out the invention. Additionally, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and the arrangements of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention iscapable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried outin various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology andterminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should notbe regarded as limiting.

Referring now to FIG. 1, shown is a semi-schematic diagram of anagricultural baler system 10 in which certain embodiments of a baleidentification assembly 11 may be employed while baling loose cropmaterial 12 from the ground into bales 14. The baler system 10 includesa towing vehicle 16 and a baler 18. The towing vehicle 16 may include acab 20 wherein an operator is located; an engine 22 operable to move thetowing vehicle 16; and a power take-off (PTO) 24 operable to transfermechanical power from the engine 22 to the baler 18. The baler 18 ishitched to the towing vehicle 16 by a fore-and-aft tongue 28, and powerfor operating the various mechanisms of the baler 18 may be supplied bythe PTO 24 of the towing vehicle 16, though not limited as such. Onehaving ordinary skill in the art should appreciate in the context of thepresent disclosure that the example baler 18 is merely illustrative, andthat other types of baling devices that utilize bale identificationassemblies may be implemented.

The baler 18 has a fore-and-aft extending baling chamber denotedgenerally by the numeral 32 within which bales 14 of crop material 12are prepared. The baler 18 is depicted as an “in-line” type of balerwherein crop material 12 is picked up below and slightly ahead of balingchamber 32 and then loaded up into the bottom of chamber 32 in astraight line path of travel. A pickup assembly broadly denoted by thenumeral 30 is positioned under the tongue 28 on the longitudinal axis ofthe machine, somewhat forwardly of the baling chamber 32. A stufferchute assembly 33 is generally shown, and includes a charge formingstuffer chamber that in one embodiment is curvilinear in shape. In someembodiments, the stuffer chamber may comprise a straight ductconfiguration, among other geometries. For instance, the stuffer chuteassembly 33 extends generally rearward and upwardly from an inletopening just behind the pickup assembly 30 to an outlet opening at thebottom of the baling chamber 32. In the particular illustratedembodiment, the baler 18 is an “extrusion” type baler in which the baledischarge orifice at the rear of the baler is generally smaller thanupstream portions of the chamber such that the orifice restricts thefreedom of movement of a previous charge and provides back pressureagainst which a reciprocating plunger 34 within the baling chamber 32can act to compress charges of crop materials into the next bale. Thedimensions of the discharge orifice and the squeeze pressure on thebales at the orifice are controlled by a compression mechanism as wouldbe understood by one skilled in the art.

The plunger 34, as is known, reciprocates within the baling chamber 32in compression and retraction strokes across the opening at the bottomof the baling chamber 32. In the portion of the plunger stroke forwardof the opening, the plunger 34 uncovers the duct outlet opening, and inthe rear portion of the stroke, the plunger 34 completely covers andcloses off the outlet opening. The reciprocating plunger 34 pressesnewly introduced charges of crop material against a previously formedand tied bale 14 to thereby form a new bale. This action also causesboth bales to intermittently advance toward a rear discharge opening 14of the baler. The completed bales 14 are tied with binding material or asimilar twine. Once tied, the bales are discharged from the rear end ofthe bale-forming chamber 32 onto a discharge in the form of a chute,generally designated 36.

The baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16) includes a communication bus 40extending between the towing vehicle 16 and the baler 18. The baler hasone or more crop sensors 44; one or more bale sensors 46; and mayinclude one or more computing devices such as electronic control unit(ECU) 48. Various alternative locations for ECU 48 may be utilized,including locations on the towing vehicle 16. It will be understood thatone or more ECUs 48 may be employed and that ECU 48 may be mounted atvarious locations on the towing vehicle 16, baler 18, or elsewhere. ECU48 may be a hardware, software, or hardware and software computingdevice, and may be configured to execute various computational andcontrol functionality with respect to baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16).As such, ECU 48 may be in electronic or other communication with variouscomponents and devices of baler 18 (or towing vehicle 16). For example,the ECU 48 may be in electronic communication with various actuators,sensors, and other devices within (or outside of) baler 18. ECU 48 maycommunicate with various other components (including other controllers)in various known ways, including wirelessly.

As the baled crop 12 is formed in the baler 18, certain parameters orqualities of the crop 12 or bale 14 may be measured or determined by thecrop sensors 44 and/or bale sensors 46, e.g., moisture quality, balingtime, bale weight, bale length, etc. In the baling chamber 32, forexample, a moisture sensor can measure an electrical resistance orcapacitance of the bale for detecting its moisture content. Anothersensor can measure the length of the bale. Each characteristic orparameter that is measured may be done so by one or more sensors 44, 46.Each measurement may be communicated to the ECU 48 for recording. TheECU 48 may communicate the detected measurement to a data server orother database for storage. The measurements may be stored locally viathe data server or wirelessly communicated via a mobile device to aremote location over the cloud-based technology.

Turning now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a knotter system 50 is configured to loopa binding material 52 around the finished bale 14. The term “bindingmaterial” as used herein is intended to mean not only twine made fromnatural or synthetic fibers, but may also include metallic wire or otherstrapping material. The knotter system 50 guides the binding material 52around the bale 14 and forms a closed loop in the binding materialencircling the bale 14, for example by forming a knot 55. The knottersystem 50 may be implemented as known in the art, and may for examplecomprise at least one source of binding material, e.g. at least onebinding material supply roll 56, and a knotter mechanism 58, for exampleimplemented as a reciprocating inserter arm or bill hook, for bringinganother piece, e.g. end, of the binding material towards the end held bythe hook mechanism, for securing the binding material to itself so as tomake a loop and a cutter 60 for cutting the binding material. In oneembodiment known as a single a single knotter, a single supply roll 56may be provided at the top side of the knotter system 50. In alternativeembodiments, for example in case of a double knotter as illustrated inFIG. 2, an upper supply roll 56A and lower supply roll 56B may beprovided at the top and at the bottom side of the knotter system 50. Forillustration purposes only, two bales 14, one already packed and onebeing packed, are illustrated in FIG. 2 with a spacing there between. Inreality, both bales 14 will push one against the other, so the spacingwill not be present. The binding material 52 is pulled between bothbales 34. As knotter systems 50 are well known in the art, furtherdescription of the knotter system need not be included herein.

According to the invention, the bale identification assembly 11 isprovided to use electromagnetic fields for assigning attributes of thebale 14 to a bale identification tag 62 applied to the bale 14.Desirably, the bale identification tag 62 is a passive radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tag used to electronically store information andcollect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves. AsRFID tags are known to those skilled in the art, a detailed descriptionof the RFID tag need not be provided herein. In embodiments of thepresent invention, the binding material is provided with baleidentification tags 62. Bale identification tags 62 are placed in thebinding material 52 at certain intervals.

As seen in FIG. 3, the bale identification assembly 11 includes a readmodule 66 and one or more antennas 64 such as an Active Reader PassiveTag (ARPT) system, which transmits interrogator signals and alsoreceives authentication replies from identification tags 62. The antenna64 can be mounted either prior to or after the knotter mechanism 58. Inone embodiment the bale tying cycle may be initiated by a bale lengthsensor arrangement such as a rotary encoder 68 or similar deviceattached a star wheel 70 extending horizontally across and beingrotatably mounted to the top of the baling chamber 32, an angular sensor72 on a slacker arm 74 used to control slack in the binding material 52supplied to the knotter mechanism 58, and an electronic motor oractuator 76 to engage the knotter mechanism 58. The angular sensor 72senses the position of the slacker arm 74 to determine the position ofthe binding material 52 in relation to the knotter mechanism 58. Thestar wheel 70 wheel may have a toothed periphery which extends into thebaling chamber 32 and is contacted by a forming bale 14 so as to berotated as the bale grows in length. The rotation of the star wheel 70is sensed and converted into a signal representing bale length, with acontrol signal being sent to initiate the tying cycle when the formingbale reaches a length corresponding to a desired bale length. As thebale identification assembly 11 detects a given identification tag 62,it can then use a combination of the star wheel 70 and position sensor72 on the slacker arm 74 to predict the passage of identification tags62 through the knotter mechanism 58 to alter the length of the bale 14via an early or late motor trip or to cause an additional flake to beadded or the bale 14 to be finished with fewer flakes to prevent theknotter 58 from cycling on the identification tag 62 preventing knotterdamage and/or damage to the bale identification tag 62.

In one embodiment, the bale identification tags 62 are incorporated intothe binding material 52 in the upper supply roll 56A intended for thetop of the bale 14 for easy identification and reduced usage. The topbinding material 52 with the bale identification tags 62 will then becombined with the lower binding material 52 from the lower supply roll56B that lacks the bale identification tags 62 on the machine by theknotter assembly 50.

Desirably, the star wheel 70 is mounted at a known distance from theknotter mechanism 58. The bale identification assembly 11 has a knottercycle sensor 82, and at least one of the antennas 64 is mounted at aknown distance from the star wheel 70. The bale identification assembly11 has the reader module 66, and a main task controller 86, which may bepart of the ECU 48.

In one embodiment, the knotter cycle sensor 82 will define theboundaries of a given bale 14. Then using the known offsets and the starwheel position sensor 80, the start and end points of that bale 14 canbe adjusted as they pass by the antenna 64. Thus any identification tags62 viewed between the start and end point are then assigned to that bale14 as their identification in the task controller 86. Any attributessuch as feed values, drop point, moisture, etc. can then be assigned forthat bale 14 in the task controller 86 or similar software.

In one embodiment, the bale identification assembly 11 has a bale dropsensor 88, an RFID antenna 64 mounted on or rearward of the bale chamber32, the reader module 66, and the task controller 86. As a bale 14passes over the discharge chute 36, a bale activation device such as apaddle 89 is moved, tripping the bale drop sensor 88. This is turn wouldactivate the antenna 64 until the sensor 88 returns to its originalstate or until a given time has been reached. During its active cycle,the antenna 64 and reader 66 will assign any identification tag 62values the reader can sense to the bale 14 that is actively leaving thechamber 32. Any other desired attributes could then be post assigned tothe bale 14 in the task controller 86. In the event that a tag 62 wassensed over multiple bale events, the identification tag number wouldonly be assigned to the latest bale drop.

In one embodiment, instead of trying to store the bale attribute data tothe bale identification tag 62 itself, the identification tag 62 isassigned to a given bale 14. Other attributes of that bale 14 such asweight, variety, location, moisture, feed value, mass flow, flake count,time of day, etc. can be assigned to the identification element throughthe software of the task controller 86 post bale drop. This data canthen be displayed in multiple ways. Either through a GIS map for futuredecision making, or as a text file type display. Either would beavailable to either export or display on other task controller equippedmachines such as bale handling and loading equipment to record ordisplay all attributes of bales being fed or sold. When each bale 14 isformed, the controller 86 may assign an identification number to thebale 14. This identification number is unique to all other bales formed.In addition, the identification number assigned to each bale 14 may bedifferent from the identification associated with the one or more baletags coupled to the bale via the twine. Thus, as the bale is formed andthe controller 86 associated an identification number to the bale, theread module 76 reads the one or more identification tag 62 andcommunicates the tag identification number to the controller 86.Moreover, the sensors 44, 46 may communicate measurements and other datadetected to the controller 86. The controller 86 can therefore associatethe measurements with the bale identification number and bale tagidentification number. Alternatively or in addition, the controller 86may communicate the measurements from the sensors 44, 46, the baleidentification number, and the bale tag identification number (whencommunicated via the reader module 66) to the data server or database. Adata matrix or spreadsheet to store the data in an organized format sothat it may be retrieved at a later time. For example, a user of amobile device may access the data wirelessly via Wi-Fi, cloud-basedtechnology or any other known communication means by accessing a serveror database where the information is stored. In this manner, the dataassociated with any bale 14 may be tracked from a remote location at anygiven time.

In one embodiment, the bale identification tags 62 incorporated into thetying medium 52 are spaced at a given and specific interval for varyingapplications on the continuous piece of binding material. Not only doesthis allow a operator to match the desired element spacing to a givenbale length, i.e. a 6 ft. spacing could match 6 ft. bales and could beeasily switched to 4 ft. or 8 ft., it also allows for predictivesoftware to determine where the bale identification tags 62 are inrelationship to machine components of the knotter system 50 withoutactively sensing the tag 62 throughout the entire process. This in turnallows for disruption of certain machine elements in order to preservethe bale identification tag 62 as well as a failsafe to ensure that eachbale 14 leaves the baler 18 with a bale identification tag 62 attached.In one example, the top twine 52 on an 8 foot bale measuresapproximately 7 feet, and the spacing of the identification tags 62 areat 6.9 feet so as to create slightly more than 1.0 identification tags62 per bale 14.

In one embodiment, if multiple bale identification tags 62 are attachedto a single bale 14, the same bale ID would be assigned to all baleidentification tags 62 that were read for that bale 14 in either a cloudor task controller 86 environment. This could also be done on the baler18 using the antenna offset and knotter cycle events. In an alternateembodiment, any multiple bale identification tags 62 sensed for a givenbale 14 would be neutralized. For example, the antenna 64 would sensethe presence of the first bale identification tag 62 associated with agiven bale 14 and associate a bale ID to that tag. Any additional baleidentification tags 62 that would normally be associated with that baleID would be neutralized so as to only create a single active baleidentification tag 62 per bale 14.

Turning now to FIG. 4, in one embodiment, the placement of theidentification tag 62 onto the binding material 52 occurs during twineproduction. The binding material 52 comprises multiple filaments orstrands of non-identifying filaments 52A and at least one non-similaridentifying filament 52B incorporating the identification tag 62 intothe individual identifying filament. In one common prior art process,the material that makes up the binding material 52 is extruded as asingle sheet before being cut into individual filaments and then woundinto a finished twine product. In one embodiment, during the extrusionprocess, the identifying filament 52B has an RFID inlay 90 insertedbefore the filament is wound. The RFID inlay 90 desirably comprisesconducting wires of an antenna connected to a RAIN RFID chip. The lengthof the RFID inlay 90 is desirably between about 10 and 24 cm. Thus, theRFID inlay 90 is a segment of the identifying filament 52B with the RFIDinlays 90 spaced along the identifying filament 52B at a desiredinterval. The identifying strand 52B incorporating the RFID inlay 90 isincorporated into the last stages of the twine production process to bewound with other individual twine filaments 52A that do not contain anRFID inlay into a single twine strand 52 with both the twine filaments52B and the non-similar identifying filament 52A.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations,merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of thedisclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to theabove-described embodiment(s) of the disclosure without departingsubstantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A bale identification assembly for use withan agricultural baler used to take loose crop material from the groundinto bales and compress a formed bale in a baling chamber with areciprocating plunger, the baler having at least one sensor configuredto sense a parameter of the crop material or formed bale, and a knottersystem that uses a binding material to bind the formed bale and tie aknot in the binding material, the bale identification assemblycomprising: a first supply roll mounted on the baler providing a firstbinding material used by the knotter system to bind the formed bale,wherein the first binding material of the first supply roll has at leastone strand of a non-identifying filament and one strand of anidentifying filament having a plurality of spaced apart identificationtags in that the first binding material comprises identification tags atspaced intervals along the binding material; a second supply rollmounted on the baler providing a second binding material used by theknotter system to bind the formed bale, wherein the second bindingmaterial consists of at least one strand of a non-identifying filamentsuch that the second binding material is different than the firstbinding material in that the second binding material does not have anidentifying filament having identification tags, wherein the knottersystem combines the first binding material with identification tags fromthe first supply roll with the second binding material withoutidentification tags from the second supply roll to bind the formed bale;and a read module with one or more antennas configured to transmitinterrogator signals and also receives authentication replies from theidentification tags.
 2. The bale identification assembly of claim 1wherein the non-identifying filament and the identifying filament of thefirst binding material are wound together before the first bindingmaterial is used to bind the bale of crop material.
 3. The baleidentification assembly of claim 2 wherein the identifying filamentcomprises an radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlay, wherein theRFID inlay comprises conducting wires of an antenna connected to an RFIDchip, and the RFID inlay comprises a segment of the identifying filamentwith adjacent RFID inlays spaced along the identifying filament at adesired interval, and the identifying filament incorporating the RFIDinlay is wound during a binding material production process with atleast one non-identifying filament into a single twine strand.
 4. Thebale identification assembly of claim 3 wherein a length of the RFIDinlay is between 10 cm and 24 cm.
 5. The bale identification assembly ofclaim 2 wherein the non-identifying filament and the identifyingfilament are wound together forming the first binding material beforethe first supply roll is mounted on the baler.
 6. The baleidentification assembly of claim 1 further comprising a controllerconfigured to receive information from the at least one sensor andassociate the information with an identification tag on a formed bale.7. The bale identification assembly of claim 1 wherein the read moduleis configured such that the read module receives authentication repliesonly from an identification tag that is on a segment of the bindingmaterial from the first supply roll that is wrapped around a finishedbale.